Hamas officials in Gaza are hinting that the construction of a wall by Egypt along the Gaza border could be met by another wave of people marching across the divider.

I'm telling you, the people, they want to live and they want something to eat. They may do everything they can, Ehab Ghussein, a spokesman for Gaza's Interior Ministry, told the AP on Monday.

But we don't hope to reach that point.

Two years ago, Hamas broke through the existing border fence, and the breach remained open for several days as people and goods traversed back and forth.

Egyptian officials told al-Ahram Weekly that Hamas activists have used the several hundred illicit tunnels running underneath the border area to enter Egypt.

According to the same source, these elements are there to test the ground for a potential massive crossing of thousands of Palestinians into the borders to protest the construction of the security wall that Egyptian authorities are constructing on the borders with Gaza.

The new border wall is planned to run deep underground, slicing through the tunnels where goods are currently trafficked into the Gaza Strip. Gaza's borders have been nearly sealed since June 2006 when armed groups captured an Israeli soldier who is believed to be held in the Strip.